We did pretty well too! We maintained our title as Olympiad champions:

And had a successful run in the maze:

If this seems like a cool project to you, it’s easy to get involved! We start the project in September every year and teach workshops on all the skills necessary to build an awesome robot. Just come to one of our meetings and learn or join a team!

Two weeks ago, the Tufts Robotics Club helped put on “The Weekend of Making” as part of the Tufts Maker Network. The event was packed, with everyone participating in workshops that revolved around learning by making. You can read more about it in the article in today’s Tufts Daily.

We’re really excited to be part of the making community at Tufts, along with groups like Tufts Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Crafts Center and Crafts House, Tufts Entrepreneurs Society and Tufts MAKE! Go check them out and stay tuned for more from the Tufts Maker Network!

Fall semester has been a busy one for the robotics club! We kicked off our two projects for the year in September: the Firefighting Robot Competition, and the Intel Cornell Cup.

For the Firefighting Robot Competition, club members are building self-driving robots that can navigate a maze using intelligent sensor systems in order to find a candle and put it out, all as quickly as possible. This semester, we did a few different workshops where we rigged up robot chassis to drive along walls, designed parts in CAD, and brainstormed different robot designs for the competition in April. At the start of next semester, we will pick up where we’ve left off and put together our robots for the main competition. Wish us luck!

Here are some photos of the Firefighting group at work:

The Intel Cornell Cup group have begun working on a drone to assist search and rescue teams in the wake of an earthquake or other such natural disaster. The drone will autonomously search an area for people in need of help and report their locations back to the team. This should be a useful tool in determining where a rescue team’s efforts are most needed so that teams can be more efficient. So far, we have run a few different tests on the drone and on thermal cameras to assess how well they will perform for our particular application. We made it into the semi-finals of the competition in December, and are preparing for our presentation in January!

Here’s a photo of the ICC team this year:

That’s a quick look at what we’ve been up to this semester. If you like working with robots, consider coming to our weekly meetings! No experience necessary – learning and teaching are a big part of what we do. Thanks for reading!

Finals stressing you out? Take a study break with the Robotics Club and help break in our new IRIS+ quadcopter drone! If you didn’t get a chance to fly it at our meeting last Friday, this will be a great opportunity. We’ll be flying around Bello field, across the street from Halligan Hall, starting 1:00pm on Monday, December 14th. Flight times will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis so get there early!

Come to this free workshop and learn how to model 3D objects and systems using Onshape, the completely free, online CAD program! The workshop will be taking place on Saturday, November 21st from 2:00pm – 4:00pm in Anderson 208. Reserve your ticket here. Please bring your own laptop!